(Davenport, IA) — Violating Iowa’s hands-free driving law will start costing people 100 dollars on January 1st. The Iowa State Patrol says that is when officers will start issuing tickets instead of warnings. The law has been in effect since July 2025. It says a driver cannot text, scroll, watch videos, or make calls by manually operating the phone, and calls must be made using the vehicle’s Bluetooth system or by voice command.
According to the Iowa Department of Public Safety, distracted driving is one of the leading causes of traffic crashes. A 2024 GTSB survey of over 1,300 Iowans from nearly every county found that 90% of respondents considered using a cell phone while driving extremely dangerous, even though 50% admitted to driving with a phone in their hand.
Drivers can use several options to stay hands-free: phone mounts, auxiliary cables, speakerphone features, Bluetooth, and other voice command systems.
